📚 References

References & Sources

This site draws on RECF rules, official VEX materials, peer-reviewed research, and contributions from the wider VRC community. We believe intellectual property matters — and citing sources is part of the engineering process we want to model for students.

✦ Why this page exists

RECF rule EN4 asks teams to recognize the work of others and produce original notebook content. This page lists the sources behind what you read here so you can trace claims back to primary documents — and so you see what proper attribution looks like when it's your turn to cite sources in your own notebook.

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RECF & Official Rules

Primary rule documents published by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation. Always consult the current-season original before quoting any rule.

V5RC Game Manual · RECF / VEX Robotics

The authoritative game rules for VEX V5 Robotics Competition. Our game-manual pages paraphrase and summarize; the original PDF governs. If there is a conflict, the Game Manual wins.

v5rc-kb.recf.org →

Guide to Judging — including the EN rubric and EN4 · RECF Library

Source for EN4 (the AI/LLM rule on engineering notebook content) and all judging criteria we reference throughout the notebook guides.

Guide to Judging — Engineering Notebooks →

RECF Student-Centered Policy & Code of Conduct · RECF

The broader policy EN4 sits inside of. Referenced on the notebook-pathway page and in mentor guidance throughout the site.

roboticseducation.org →

Drive Team Training Course · RECF

The official drive team training we link to from role-driver. Alliance-station conduct, referee interaction, and game-day rules.

RECF Drive Team Course →

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VEX Community & Official Resources

Hardware documentation, community discussion, and third-party libraries commonly used in V5RC programming.

VEX Robotics — Hardware & Documentation · VEX Robotics

Part numbers, V5 brain and controller specifications, motor data, and official product documentation referenced throughout the hardware guides.

vexrobotics.com →

VEX Forum — Community Discussion · vexforum.com

Where "VEX Forum consensus" comes from. Cited throughout the site when a specific technique or best practice is drawn from community discussion rather than an official RECF document.

vexforum.com →

PROS — VEX V5 C++ Library · Purdue SIGBots

The programming environment and library we document for V5 code development. Open-source, maintained by Purdue University's ACM SIGBots chapter.

pros.cs.purdue.edu →

EZ-Template — Chassis & Auton Framework · EZ-Robotics

Third-party PROS template our programming guides build on. Created and maintained by the EZ-Robotics community.

ez-robotics.github.io/EZ-Template →

LemLib — Odometry & Path Following · LemLib contributors

Odometry and motion control library mentioned in advanced programming references. Used under its original license.

lemlib.readthedocs.io →

Onshape — CAD Platform · PTC / Onshape

CAD platform used throughout the mechanical design guides. Onshape Learning Center and PTC unit-plan materials inform our coach resources.

Onshape Help → Onshape Learning Center →

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External Research & Educational Sources

Peer-reviewed research and published educational frameworks informing the training and notebook guidance.

Deliberate Practice · Anders Ericsson et al.

Research on expert performance and motor learning. Cited in the driver-practice curriculum — the principles of measurable targets, spaced repetition, and practice just beyond current ability come from this body of work.

Ericsson, Krampe & Tesch-Römer (1993) →

Engineering Design Process (EDP) · NASA / ITEEA educational framework

The framework underlying the RECF notebook rubric. Identify → Brainstorm → Select → Build → Test → Iterate. Widely used in K-12 engineering education.

NASA STEM — Engineering Design Process →

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Tools & Libraries Used to Build This Site

Open-source and third-party software that runs the site itself. Listed separately from content sources so you can tell the two apart.

Netlify · Static hosting

The site's hosting provider. Free tier, global CDN, automatic HTTPS.

netlify.com →

Anthropic Claude API · AI backend for assistant tools

Powers the Tier 2/3 AI assistants (EZ Template, Onshape, Game Manual, Match Brief, Match Debrief, Guide Recommender). All AI tools on this site carry the RECF EN4 notice — AI output is a thinking prompt, not notebook content. Tools that would generate notebook content directly were removed from this site.

anthropic.com →

Google Fonts — Orbitron, Share Tech Mono, Nunito · Open Font License

Typography used throughout. Loaded from fonts.googleapis.com under the SIL Open Font License.

fonts.google.com →

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Acknowledgments

People and teams whose work shaped this site.

Spartan Design — Team 2822 · Mary R. Stauffer Middle School

Students, mentors, and coaches who tested these guides in the field and flagged what needed fixing.

VEX / VRC Community · Teams and forum contributors

Every "VEX Forum consensus" note on this site stands on the shoulders of teams who shared what they learned publicly. Thank you.

✦ For students: citation & attribution

How to cite sources in your own engineering notebook

When you use information from outside your team — an RECF document, a VEX Forum post, a YouTube tutorial, a textbook — note where the information came from. A short inline note is enough: "Gear ratio formulas: VEX PLTW curriculum, Unit 3." or "Technique from VEX Forum thread on cheesy drive, Dec 2024." Citing sources is not plagiarism protection — it's evidence that your team knows what's yours and what you built on, which is exactly what judges look for.

The same applies to AI. If an AI tool helped you understand something, fine. But per RECF EN4, AI-produced text does not go into the notebook. The writing is yours.

Spotted something missing or miscredited? Email the team and we'll fix it in the next update.

    Team 2822
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    Spartan Design VRC
    ·
    Informational Reference
  